Integrated Accessibility Standards Policy & Plan

In accordance with our organizational obligations under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation (O. Reg. 191/11), the purpose of this document is to outline the policies and actions that Bruce Power has in place and will put in place in order to provide accessibility within our organization for people with disabilities as well as our website, www.brucepower.com.

Accessible Environment for People with Disabilities

This policy applies to all Bruce Power employees, students, and contractors.

Our Commitment

Bruce Power is committed to maintaining an accessible environment for persons with disabilities. We are committed to meeting the needs of people with disabilities in a timely manner, and will do so by preventing and removing barriers to accessibility and meeting accessibility requirements under the AODA. Where it is not possible to remove barriers, Bruce Power will make efforts to accommodate persons with disabilities in a timely, effective and suitable manner.

As an organization, we live each day by a strong and clear set of values that embrace safety, our community, integrity and diversity. We aim for inclusiveness, dignity, and accessibility while honouring the knowledge, experience, wisdom and traditions of our people. We continue to develop and evolve our diversity and inclusion program with the objective to take it to the next level and give it a more focused approach throughout the organization. We continue to work towards removing barriers, while focusing our diversity efforts on recruitment, training, communications and accessibility.

Accessible Emergency Information

Bruce Power provides customers and clients with publicly available emergency information in an accessible way upon request. All visitors to our site have a sponsor who is responsible for their safety. We also provide employees with disabilities with individualized emergency response information when necessary.

Assistive Devices

We will ensure that our staff is trained and familiar with the assistive devices we have that may be used by customers and clients with disabilities while accessing our goods and services.

Training

Bruce Power will provide training to employees, volunteers and other staff members on Ontario’s accessibility laws and on the Human Rights Code as it relates to people with disabilities. Training will be provided in a way that best suits the duties of employees, volunteers and other staff members.

Bruce Power ensures all employees who deal with the public or third parties on our behalf are trained within 30 days and continue to be training when changes are made to the plan.

Training will include:

An overview of the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 and the requirements of the customer service standard

The specific details of Bruce Power’s plan related to the customer service standard

How to interact and communicate with people with various types of disabilities

How to interact with people with disabilities who use an assistive device or require the assistance of a service animal or a support person

How to use the equipment or devices available that may help with providing goods or services to people with disabilities.

What to do if a person with a disability is having difficulty in accessing Bruce Power’s services.

Staff will also be trained when changes are made to our accessible customer service plan.

Information & Communications

Bruce Power is committed to meeting the needs of people with disabilities and we will communicate in ways that take into account their disability. Bruce Power has ensured that existing processes for receiving and responding to feedback by the public are accessible to people with disabilities upon request. Bruce Power is committed to ensuring all publicly available information is made accessible upon request and that all existing websites and content conform with WCAG 2.0, Level AA by January 1, 2021. Please refer to our current website accessibility statement for www.brucepower.com.

Service Animals

Bruce Power welcomes people with disabilities and their service animals. Service animals are allowed on the parts of our premises that are open to the public.

Support Persons

A person with a disability who is accompanied by a support person will be allowed to have that person accompany them on our premises.

Employment

Talent Acquisition

Bruce Power is committed to fair and accessible employment practices. We take the following steps to notify the public and staff that, when requested, Bruce Power will accommodate people with disabilities during the recruitment and assessment processes and when people are hired:

Bruce Power notifies its employees about the availability of accommodation for applicants with disabilities in its recruitment processes.

During a recruitment process, Bruce Power notifies job applicants, when they are individually selected to participate in an assessment or selection process that accommodations are available upon request in relation to the materials or processes to be used.

If a selected applicant requests an accommodation, Bruce Power consults with the applicant and provides or arranges for the provision of a suitable accommodation in a manner that takes into account the applicant’s accessibility needs due to disability.

We will take the following steps to ensure that our employment practices comply with the AODA Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation (O. Reg. 191/11):

Review careers website and recruitment procedures.

Notify employees and the public about the availability of accommodation for applicants with disabilities in its recruitment processes.

When making offers of employment, notify the successful applicant of its policies for accommodating employees with disabilities.

Review and as necessary revise our policy and plan at least once every 5 years.

Accommodation

Bruce Power has a process for developing individual accommodation plans and return-to-work policies for employees that have been absent due to a disability.

Talent Management

We will ensure the accessibility needs of employees with disabilities needs are taken into account when using performance management, career development and redeployment processes. Bruce Power will take steps to prevent and remove other accessibility barriers when identified.

Design of Public Spaces

Bruce Power will continue to meet the Accessibility Standards for the Design of Public Spaces when building or making major modifications to public spaces. Public spaces at Bruce Power include:

Bruce Power has procedures in place to prevent service disruptions to its accessible parts of its public spaces. In the event of a service disruption, we notify the public of the service disruption and alternatives available.

Website Accessibility

Bruce Power has an ongoing commitment to providing Internet websites and web content that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability.
This website endeavours to conform to user standards set-out in Level A of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0, as required by the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). These guidelines explain how to make web content more accessible for people with disabilities. Conformance with these guidelines will help make the web more user friendly for all people.

We test and evaluate our new and refreshed websites for Level A conformance. This site has been built using W3C standards for HTML and CSS so that it may support the use of screen-reading software. Using standards compliant HTML/CSS code ensures the site displays correctly in current browsers and future browsers will also display it correctly.

While www.brucepower.com strives to adhere to the accepted guidelines and standards for accessibility and usability, it is not always possible to do so in all areas of the website. We are continually seeking solutions that will bring all areas of the site up to the same level of overall web accessibility.

Feedback Process

Environment

Customers who wish to receive more information on this plan or provide feedback on the way Bruce Power provides good and services to people with disabilities can provide feedback in the following ways: